Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said a peace agreement to end the war with Russia is “90% ready”, in a New Year address that largely focused on resistance to Moscow’s full-scale invasion.
Zelensky said the remaining 10% of the agreement to end nearly four years of conflict would “determine the fate of peace, the fate of Ukraine and Europe”.
In his own New Year speech, Russian President Vladimir Putin told his troops that “we believe in you and our victory”.
Earlier on Wednesday, Moscow also released what it said was evidence of Ukraine using drones to target Putin’s private home on Lake Valdai in north-west Russia, allegations Kyiv has strenuously denied.
It included a map allegedly showing that the drones were launched from the Sumy and Chernihiv regions of Ukraine and a video of a downed drone lying in snowy woodland. A serviceman standing next to the wreckage claims it is a Ukrainian Chaklun drone.
The BBC hasn’t been able to verify the footage, and it is not possible to locate where it was shot.
Russia would review its position on the ongoing peace negotiations as a result of the alleged incident, the Kremlin said.
However, Kaja Kallas, the EU’s top diplomat, on Wednesday described the Russian claims as a “deliberate distraction” and an attempt to derail the peace process.
In his 20-minute address to the nation, Zelensky said that Ukraine did not want peace “at any cost”, adding that “we want the end of the war – not the end of Ukraine”.
He said that a Ukrainian withdrawal from the eastern Donbas region means “everything will be over”, a reference to Russia’s maximalist demand that Moscow secure full control of the industrial area in any peace agreement.
Moscow currently controls about 75% of the Donetsk region, and some 99% of the neighbouring Luhansk. The two regions are known collectively as Donbas.
Its fate has been a major obstacle throughout negotiations, with Russia consistently unwilling to compromise on its aim to seize full control of Donbas.
In the address, Zelensky thanked leaders who have supported Ukraine, but said that “intentions must become security guarantees, and therefore – be ratified”.
Following talks between Zelensky and his US counterpart Donald Trump in Florida earlier this week, the Ukrainian leader said Washington had offered security guarantees for 15 years – but a time frame for their implementation is not yet clear.
“Signatures under weak agreements only fuel war,” Zelensky said in his address. “Either the world stops Russia’s war, or Russia drags the world into its war.”
By comparison, Putin’s New Year’s address was much shorter.
Addressing the war in Ukraine, which Moscow describes as a “special military operation”, Putin said: “We strive to bring joy and warmth through our care for those in need of support and, of course, to stand by our heroes – the participants in the special military operation – in both word and deed.”
Separately, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un used his New Year message to praise the “invincible alliance” between Pyongyang and Moscow, while praising soldiers who are fighting in “alien lands”.
North Korea has sent thousands of troops to aid Russia in its invasion, along with missiles and long-range weapons, South Korean officials have said.
At least 600 of those soldiers have died, according to South Korean estimates.
Zelensky has expressed a desire for peace negotiations to resume and accelerate this month with the involvement of both US and European officials.
French President Emmanuel Macron said European states and allies who are due to meet in Paris on 6 January “will make concrete commitments to protect Ukraine and ensure a just and lasting peace on our European continent”.
On Wednesday, Trump’s advisers held talks with Zelensky and national security advisers from the UK, France and Germany about ending the war in Ukraine.
US special envoy Steve Witkoff said they discussed “strengthening security guarantees and developing effective deconfliction mechanisms to help end the war and ensure it does not restart”.
But any deal will ultimately need Russian buy-in, which does not seem forthcoming – and which the alleged drone incident over Putin’s residence may have pushed further into the distance.
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